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Pilot program examines how local aides improve agricultural practices and income for low-income farmers, suggesting new directions for Extension education.
The authors report the results of a pilot research program in Texas involving the use of local low-income farmers as agricultural program aides to bring about changes in agricultural production and management and level of living. After aides worked intensively with them, farmers in counties where aides were ranked high by Extension staff on 15 character and personal traits were found to make greater use of USDA agencies and showed greater increases in gross farm income than those farmers in counties where aides were ranked low by Extension staff on the traits. Implications are that "we have just begun" efforts involving paraprofessionals in agricultural Extension education. Where do you think we should go from here?
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Ludwig et al. (1973) studied this question.
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